Christmas
seemed to have come early, with a blanket of snow covering the town the
night before, the first of the winter. Despite the cold and wintry
feel St. Mungo's annual Christmas Fair attracted a good turnout, from churches across the town and farther afield, to see
the selection of stalls and goodies. Avis Anderson provided a warm welcome at the door for all the visitors.

With a wide selection of
items for Christmas gifts and stocking fillers there was plenty to
choose from. Toys of all shapes and sizes were on display, and some
could be won for the price of a raffle ticket or two. Susan Duns was on
the raffle stall and the book of tickets seemed to be emptying pretty
quickly when I queued up for mine. Frank Duns was also on hand to help out.

The
bottle stall is always
a favourite and there were plenty of bottles from wine to soft drinks,
sparkling and still, something to suit everyone. This year Barbara and
Neil Sprott manned the stall. Meanwhile Joyce Hunter was on
the home baking stall, with meringues, cakes and various loaves. By
time I reached her, less than half an
hour after opening, her stall was almost half empty. I did manage to
grab
my favourite tea loaf and fruit loaf, before they all disappeared.

Agnes
Ovenstone and Margaret Black were on the stall with so many items it
was difficult to know where to start. Gift ideas for the home and toys
for the children were in abundance. There was even a Silver Cross push
chair with all the cold weather gear for someone's little one.

Tombola
is a regular feature and once again attracted a few people to 'have a
go'. Linn Kinloch and Olive Darling wre tempting the customers.
Just behind Linn and Olive was Ivan Ramsay on the book stall. This year saw an
influx of new titles from all genre's to entice the avid and casual
readers alike.

We had a new visitor stall displaying all
things 'scottish' with a wide display of kilts and dresses for that
little girl in your family. With dresses from 1 year up to 6 years old,
in a range of different tartans this was a real display of colour.

Having
got round all the displays it was time for a well earned coffee and
home baking. Barbara Ramsay, and Margaret Barry were helping, offering a wide selection of home made cakes,
pancakes, or were they 'drop scones'? Plus plenty of mince pies to
herald in the coming season of 'goodwill to all men.' While enjoying
our tea the raffle was drawn and the prizes presented.

Agnes
Ovenstone announced at the Sunday morning service
that £695 had been raised, but by the end of the day over
£730 had been collected, following several donations received during
the after service tea and coffee in the hall.

A big thank you
to all who put the fair together, donated items, and to those who came
along, bought some of the goodies, or donated a gift. Your generosity
goes to help the upkeep of your church fabric, helping to keep out the
worst that winter can throw at us.